Convertible screen door



June 11, 1929. 111:. CARRIGAN' 1,716,764

CONVERTIBLE SCREEN DOOR Filed June 15 1927,

' INVENTOR. JIe'ssE L. CA RIF/6AA! 9 ATTORNEYS.

Patented June 11, 1929.

JESSE L. CARRIGAN, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

CONVERTIBLE Application filed June 15,

This invention has general reference to screened, or partially-screcncd,forms of closures for door and window openings; but relates moreparticularly to such closures which are especially well adapted for usein doorways, and which are readily convertible from doors each of whichhas a screened ventilation portion, to those of the so-called solidtype, and vice versa.

A primary object of my present invention is to produce a door, having anopening therethrough, which is provided with a fixed screen adapted toexclude mosquitoes, flies, and other insects, but to permit the passageof air and light, and having a shutter or other member for closing saidopening, such closing member having one exposed surface, and beingslidable adjacent an outer face of the door.

Another object is to provide the opening in the door with such aslidable closing member, having one or more panes of transparent ortranslucent material, such as glass.

A further object is to provide the door, adjacent the screen, with agrille or the like, having openings therein which are too small topermit the passage of a human hand therethrough.

A further object is to provide such a door with means for retaining theslidable closing member yieldably in one or more predeterminedpositions, which are selective.

And a still further object is to provide manually-operable means,carried by the door, for manipulating such retaining means, so that theslidable closing member may, selectively, be either left free forsliding movement, or held yieldingly against such movement.

The means by which the foregoing and other objects are accomplished bymy invention, and the manner of their accomplishment, readily will beunderstood from the following description upon reference to theaccompanying drawings, which depict preferred embodiments of theinvention, and in which- Fig. 1 is a front, or outside, elevation of adoor embodying my invention, with parts broken away, and with theslidable closing member shown in closing position.

Fig. 2 is a rear, or inside, elevation of the same door, with theslidable closing member shown in position to permit the passage of airthrough the screened portion of the door.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, on

SCREEN DOOR.

1927. Serial No. 199,078.

an enlarged scale, the section being taken substantially on the lineHI-III of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4; is a view similar to Fig. 3, but with the section takensubstantially on the line IV-IV of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary detail View of one of the means forholding the slidable closing member against sliding movement, orpermitting such movement. As shown in the accompanying drawings, inwhich similar parts are designated by corresponding reference charactersthroughout the several views, the preferred form of my convertiblescreen door comprises the usual upper or top rail 7, lower or bottomrail 8, intermediate or middle rail 9, and stiles 10 and 11. The spacebounded by the lower or bottom rail 8, the intermediate or middle rail9, and the lower portions of the stiles 10 and 11, has fitted therein asolid panel 12, which is secured inplace by a molding 13 and brads 1d.The space defined by the upper or top rail 7, the intermediate or middlerail 9, and the upper portions of the stiles 10 and 11, is fitted with afine-mesh wire screen 15, which is held in place by a molding 16 andbrads 17. Also, there preferably is secured over the screen 15, by themolding 16 and brads 17 or by any other suitable securing means, agrille 18, which may be of any suitable design and type of construction,but which I prefer to cast, stamp or otherwise form of metal, with aplurality of openings therein, each of which is too small to permit thepassage of a human hand of ordinary size therethrough.

The opposed faces of the two stiles 10 and 11 are each rabbeted so as toform two adja cent grooves or runways 19 and 20, the former of which isnear the front or outer face of the stile, while the latter is at theback or inner face of the stile, and has one of its walls formed by amolding 21 which is secured to the stile by brads 22. In each of therunways 20 is placed a guide-strip 23, preferably of oak or otherfine-grained hard wood, which is held in place by two flat springs 24and 25, each secured to the stile by a screw 26, and to the guide-stripby a screw 27. In a pocket 28, formed in the stile behind each of thefiat springs 24 and 25, is placed a cam 29, which has a plurality ofsimilar flat faces, and is fixed upon a pin 30 that extends looselythrough the molding 21, and has secured at its outer end a wing-nut 31by which the pin 30 and the cam 29 may be turned manually.

ill

The outer face of each of the guide-strips 23 is rabbeted so as to forma runway conforming in shape and dimensions with the rabbeted surface19, and a window-sash 32, having its side members similarly rabbeted,and carrying either a plurality of panes oi glass or a single pane, asmay be preferred, is mounted for slid-able movement in said runways.lilanitestly, a slidable shutter, 01 either wood or metal, may besubstituted for the windmv-sash it desired, without departure from theintended scope of my invention. For convenience in moving thewindow-sash (or shutter) manually, I provide at each side one or morebuttons or other form of handles 33.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the preferred manner of constructing and using myconvertible screen door readily will be understood. W hen thewindow-sash is in its uppermost position (see 1), it is held securely inplace in the runways 19, behind the screen and the grille 18, and termsa water-tight, and substantially airtight, closure for the upper portionof the door, and the door therefore becomes, to all intents andpurposes, of the so-called solid type. lVhen it is desired to lower thewindow-sash, so as to convert the door into one of the screened type, itis only necessary to turn the wingnuts 31 so as to move the cams 29 toap n'oximately the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5, andthereby permit the springs 2d and to move the guide-strips 23 toward thestiles sutliciently so that the window-sash may be shifted manually fromthe runways 19 to runways 20,-whereupon the sash may be moved slidahlydownward, either to its lowermost position, as indicated in Fig. 2, orto any desired intermediate position. hen the cams 29 are in thepositions indicated in full lines in Fig. 5, the sash is held firmly inplace by the pressure of the springs 24 and 25 upon the guide-strips 23,and there is thus no tendency of the sash either to rattle or to becomedisplaced from its intended position. 3y the use of cams which, insteadof having curvilinear s pring-engaging surfaces, are provided with aplurality of flat faces, accidental or other unintended displacement ofthe cams, as by the jarring of the door, is guarded against.

It should be noted that the design of my improved torm of convertiblescreen door is such that the stiles or the rails need none of them be ofdouble or hollow construction; the window-sash is at all times adjacentan outer surface of the door; and the over-all thickness of the doorneed be little, if any, greater than it it were not of the convertibletype.

Various n'iodiiications of minor details of the improvements disclosedherein doubtless readily w, l suggest themselves to those skilled inthis art, but such modifications fall within the scope of my inventiverights, and my invention not to be constructed as being limited to anydetails not specifically set out in the appended claims.

Having now fully disclosed the invention, what I claim as new, and seekto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with opposed stiles ot a door, each stile having a.pair of rabbets e21- tending longitudinally therein, one rabbetextending longitudinally therein, one rabhet being of greater depth thanthe other, of a rabbeted guide strip in each of the deeper rabbets inthe stiles, means for holding said guide strips projected toward eachother to retain a window sash or the like within the shallmv rabhes,springs for retracting the guide strips to re e: e the sash for movementfrom position between the shallow rabbets to position be tween therabbets in the guide strips, said holding means being shittable to movethe guide strips into engagement with the sash therebetween, and meanssecured to the stiles and cooperating therewith to hold the sash againstmovement irom engagement with the guide strips.

The combination with a door having opstiles each having rabbets ofdifferent xtending longitudinally therein, and sh or the like removablyseated in of least depth, of rabbeted guide str' springs for holdingsaid strips normalrerracted into the deeper rabbets in the stiles,thereby to release the sash for removal from the shallow rabbets toposition between the rabbets in the guide strips, means for shi ting thesprings to move the guide strips 'd each other to engage the sash whenpos .tioned therebetween and to hold the sash against: displacement whenpositioned in the shallow rabbets in the stiles, and means cured to thestiles for holding the sash against dis placement relative to the guidestrips while engaged thereby.

In witness of the foregoing, l atlix my signature. 7

JESSE L. GARRIGAN.

